My regular group is pretty good when it comes to course etiquette but there’s always the occasional memory lapse. Sometimes it’s filling a fairway divot (when doing that, try to find one or two additional ones to fill), unnecessary cart traffic in already worn turf, not being ready and, not fixing ball marks on the green.
I wrote about that almost 2 years ago and I don’t know about where you play, but here at the ranch, ball marks are still a problem. If your greens are dormant or heading in that direction, they still need ball mark attention.
When I first started playing, fixing my ball mark meant that I’d probably hit a green in regulation which meant I had a fair chance for par and with a little luck, and close enough to the flag stick, maybe a birdie. For a beginner, that was pretty neat.
Now, making sure I have a ball mark repair tool in my pocket is a regular part of my pre-round routine. I keep my repair tools in the same pouch in my bag as my ball markers.
Next time I out and about, I think I’ll pick-up 6 to 12 inexpensive repair tools and have them handy when one of my playing partners has one of those memory lapses I mentioned earlier. In case you’re wondering, I use the Green Fix tool – it’s supposed to be more turf and root friendly. I tried getting it adopted as the ‘default tool’ here at the ranch but interest just wasn’t there.
